Q&A With Tom Chilton at Champions' Carnival in Taiwan

Tom "Kalgan" Chilton, the Lead Game Designer for World of Warcraft, was in attendance at the recent Champions' Carnival in Taiwan.

While he was there he had a Q&A session with players at the event and some of the questions covered current and future armour tiers to the future of arenas and even a little about Cataclysm.

Read on after the break for the full Q&A.

At the recent Champions' Carnival in Taiwan, World of Warcraft Game Director Tom Chilton was in attendance to answer questions directly from the players at the event. This Q&A covers topics from current armor tiers to Arenas to what is being planned for the next expansion, Cataclysm.

Are there any plans to increase the starting level of new characters, similar to starting from level 55 as a death knight?

No, there are no plans at this time to allow new characters to start at a higher level. However, it's always possible for future Hero classes.

What can we expect from the art design for item sets in the Cataclysm expansion? Many items appeared identical in Trial of the Grand Crusader.

With the Trial of the Crusader, as well as Trial of the Grand Crusader, we wanted to introduce faction-specific art, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so, given the purpose, story-wise of what this instance was about. That said, with Icecrown Citadel we're returning to how we've handled tier sets in the past, providing unique class-specific art. As we create the items for Cataclysm, we'll certainly take into account how each of these approaches has been received.

Is it possible to add a car racing mini-game to Shimmering Flats in Thousand Needles?

Mini-games are something that we're certainly interested in adding to the game, and continue to discuss on a regular basis, but we don't have any plans to announce just yet.

Will additional methods of obtaining PvP items be introduced in the future?

There are currently several methods of obtaining PvP items. It's worth noting that one thing we are working on for Cataclysm is improving the availability for starter PvP sets.

Will improvements be made to the current social features, such as a marriage system or an improved guild system?

We are currently working on a guild system revamp for Cataclysm, and will continue to make improvements to the social features of the game.

Why do goblins seem to have better racial abilities than worgen?

The new racial abilities are still in the process of being balanced and reviewed. Don't be surprised if changes are made to any of the racial abilities before Cataclysm is released.

Some players like to collect many sets of items, but the current bank slots are just not enough. Are there plans to add a wardrobe feature to the bank, to help players store their item sets?

This is something that we're currently looking into and would like to implement at some point in the future.

With the constant danger of account theft, would it be possible to implement a password lock to the bank?

If the account itself is compromised, it's likely that any additional passwords such as a password lock to the bank would be compromised as well. Good security habits, such as being careful about downloading programs or visiting suspicious sites, as well as the use of the Battle.net Authenticator, are more effective measures than an additional password would be, and we highly encourage all players to apply them. With that said, account security is a top priority for us and we are constantly working on additional security measures.

In past expansions, the level cap was raised by 10 levels each time. However, the level cap will only be increased by 5 levels with the Cataclysm expansion. Why is that?

For Cataclysm, a lot of work will be put into redesigning the level 1-60 play experience as well as adding new content for max-level players. In addition, with the Cataclysm expansion we are also working on alternate methods of character progression, such as the Path of the Titans and guild levels and guild talents.

Will there be more quests that require cooperation from both factions in the future, such as the Ahn'Qiraj gate event?

Currently, there aren't any plans to do so; one of our goals with Cataclysm is to bring the "war" back to Warcraft through a variety of ways, all of which we're very excited about.

Will there be more heirloom items in the Cataclysm expansion?

Yes, definitely. Our long-term goal is to implement heirloom items for most, if not every item slot.

Are there plans to improve the in-game voice chat system?

Yes, we definitely want to improve upon the current in-game voice chat system and already have plans to do so.

Will there be flying mounts that could take passengers in the future?

This is something we are planning on adding at some point in the future.

Will it be possible to add an "instance spectator" mode to the game?

This is a feature that we would like to add for both raids and Arenas in the future.